willstrickland

A year ago I'd been in Portland for about two months having just abandonded life on the road. I was seeing a hot little hispanic number and I'd scored a job about two weeks before I would have been completely bankrupt. I was probably stronger than I'd ever been and climbing close to as hard as I ever had and then the week before Christmas blew a ligament, no not a tendon, a ligament in my ring finger...put me out of climbing altogether for four months followed by a lengthy rehab. So for me this reflection is very strange because I see my departure date on the horizon. In a way I almost feel like I'm already gone from Portland. On the other hand I was injured about 50% of the time I was here and didn't get to take advantage of the resources like I had intended, and because of this, I'm trying to make the best of my last four months here in the NW. I'll be back of course, as early as late this summer for alpine rock in WA and climbing at Squish. My last year netted these: 1. Authored five climbing articles, three which were rejected, one postponed, and one published.2. Chopped bolts with Caveman and Retro.3. Did a couple of FAs on rock in the Hood Nat. Forest4. Accumulated a ton of gear from used, blowout, or free sources.5. Paid off my debt, sold my car, bought a cheap van that has made me $1200 from being hit twice.6. Had two relationships start and finish, both amicably, and one that never really ended from years ago is back on the burner (sort of).7. Took only two leader falls on trad routes, and took a daisy fall onto a cam hook in Zion when the cam I was on blew...amazingly after blowing about half the rock out around it, the camhook stayed put (rotated half out) as I got myself back upright and sweated the camhook popping with only a shitty rurp between me and a big pendo into a corner.8. Wrote two publishing proposals for climbing guides, one rejected and one still under consideration.9. Did three routes on Hood, two solo and one simul solo. (Reid, South Side, Leutholds)10. Climbed with Texplorer and a couple of other CC lurkers.11. Climbed at Zion, Josh, Beacon, Leavenworth, Hood, Smith, Broughton, Rocky Butte, Madrone, Carver.12. Met tons of cool people, drank tons of great beer and coffee, saw a way dry Oregon winter and a way wet Oregon winter, got squared away for my doctoral applications.13. Spent way too much time spraying my BS on this board.

Jay: Took about a week. I think I ordered on a Monday and got them the following monday. Mine shipped to Copenhagen, then somewhere else in Europe, then to Boston, and finally to PDX.

I'll weigh in on the seamstress issue. My grandma worked as a seamstress for about 15 years sewing London Fog trench coats among others. The labor force where she worked was primarily older women when she began working there, average age was probably 55. During the 80's and up until she retired in '94, the work force began to shift toward young to middle age asian immigrants with some mexican immigrants. In '94 the work force was probably 60% asian women (primarily Vietnamese and Cambodian...although this had to do with the location of the plant more than anything else, it was located very near the Atlanta suburb of Chamblee, commonly called Chambodia these days by locals) 20% mexican women, and 20% elderly white and black women. So, I don't think it's an issue of asia having better seamstresses...our seamstresses are asian! I think the accelerated pace of production these days is the primary culprit, it's hard to get it right when you're working at a frenzied pace.

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: Maybe I am still dumb. It looks like it is designed not to do that. Yeah, that's what I thought to myself, but the instructions even point out that you can do this..what the hell? Maybe I'll e-mail Grivel with one of those nice translators we;ve been using, All you crampon are belong to us yo.

quote: Originally posted by fishstick: Will, The two diagrams provided on the site are different. Do you have two holes near the end of the points as in the lower diagram, or two holes in the center as per the upper? GB As in the lower diagram, two holes near the end, but with either set-up it would seem you need two sets both at the back and in the middle.

quote: Originally posted by nolanr: Will, Relax, If you really wanna argue about music, nobody in the last 100 years or so can hold the jockstrap of Vivaldi, Bethoven, Bach, all those dudes. It's called staying power bro. The longer it hangs around and stays fashionable, the better it must be. Remember, no relaxin' this is SPRAY. So let's just destroy your weak-ass argument shall we? Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven: Melody, counterpoint, 3/4 and 4/4...boring. Staying power, last 100 years? Try Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Gershwin. Dave Brubeck's Time Out, all in non-standard time sigs, for that matter south american and african tribal music is WAY more complex rhythmically than anything the classical cats ever did. Take the A train, Autumn Leaves, All the things you are, Cherokee, Donna Lee, I've got Rhythm, they don't call them standards for nothing. Hell, the harmony (read chord change structure) for I've got rhythm alone has spawned countless other tunes...you might recognize it from the Flintstones theme song among others. You want more staying power? Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Art Tatum. It's a jazzy world out there and as a player I'd take Oscar Peterson or Bud Powell over any of those white Europeans any day of the week.

Here's a link to the instructions/diagram for the Rambocomps, scroll all the way down past the color drawing to the exploded view, now see how the middle bar goes through the middle set of holes in the frontpoints? There needs to be another set of holes in the frontpoint bars...or I'm really thickheaded. The front and rear set of holes have pairs on each side, but the middle only has one, trying to offset them doesn't allow you to install that bar and without it the frontpoints are only attached to the rear section with one bar...which becomes a hinge and leaves me with a flexible crampon.rambocomp pdf [ 12-18-2001: Message edited by: willstrickland ]

Just for clarity: The part I'm not able to install would normally be the middle bar of the three. This keeps the front and secondary/tertiary from being rigidly connected to the rear "cage".

Alright, got my Rambo comp duals last night from Sportsextreme.com and I was trying to set them up in the offset frontpoint config...kinda like a modified mono set-up. THe problem is that there doesn't seem to be a way to make the thing rigid when doing this. I've got the frame at full extension, but since the rear most holes in the front points have one bar through them and the others should have the second bar through them but the holes don't line up right, almost like there needs to be another hole in the front points/ I'm at a loss. Otherwise I've got 'em set up about how I want them as far as bail positions, etc. Any insight?

What if Santa answered all those letters honestly? Here's a little sample of what we might see: "Dear Santa I wud like a kool toy space ranjur fer Xmas. Iv ben a gud boy all yeer." Yer Frend, BiLLy" ----------- Dear Billy, Nice spelling. You're on your way to a career in lawn care. How about I send you a fucking book so you can learn to read and write? I'm giving your older brother the space ranger because HE can spell! -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dear Santa, I have been a good girl all year, and the only thing I ask for is peace and joy in the world for everybody!" Love, Sarah ----------- Dear Sarah, You're parents smoked pot when they had you, didn't they? Turn off the 'Nicolodeon' and get a friggin' clue. I'm getting you a rifle and some armor-piercing ammo. -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dear Santa, I don't know if you can do this, but for Christmas, I'd like for my mommy and daddy to get back together. Please see what you can do." Love, Teddy ----------- Dear Teddy, Look, your dad's banging the babysitter like a screen door in a hurricane. Do you think he's gonna give that up to come back to your frigid mom, who constantly rides his ass? It's time to give up that dream, little boy. Let me get you some nice Legos instead. -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dear Santa, I want a new bike, a Playstation, a train, some G.I. Joes, a dog, a drum kit, a pony and a tuba." Love, Francis ----------- Dear Francis, Who the hell names their kid "Francis" nowadays? My bet is that you're a flagrant homosexual. I'll be dropping off some hoisery for you, 'twinkle toes'. -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dear Santa, I left milk and cookies for you under the tree, and I left carrots for your reindeer outside the back door." Love, Susan ----------- Dear Susan, The lactose in milk gives me the runs and carrots make the deer fart in my face when riding in the sleigh. You wanna do me a favor? Leave me a bottle of Glenlivet 12-year old Scotch and some peanuts. -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dear Santa, What do you do the other 364 days of the year? Are you busy making toys?" Your friend, Thomas ----------- Dear Thomas, All the toys are made in China. I have a condo in Vegas, where I spend most of my time as an executive producer of low-budget porn. I unwind by drinking myself silly and squeezing the tight, little asses of cocktail waitresses while losing my money at the craps table. Hey, you wanted to know. I hope this doesn't tarnish the image you once had of me. -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dear Santa, Do you see us when we're sleeping, do you really know when we're awake, like in the song?" Love, Jessica ----------- Dear Jessica, Are you an idiot?! Are you really that gullible? Good luck in whatever you do. I'm skipping your house. -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dear Santa, I really, really want a puppy this year. Please please please PLEASE PLEASE could I have one?" Timmy ----------- Timmy, That whiney, begging shit may work on your folks, but that crap doesn't work with me. You're getting a sweater, socks, and briefs again. -Santa ___________________________________________________ "Dearest Santa, We don't have a chimney in our house, how do you get into our home?" Love, Marky ----------- Mark, First, stop calling yourself "Marky", that's why you're getting your ass whipped at school. Second, you don't live in a house, you live in a low-rent apartment complex. Third, I get inside your pad just like all the burglars do, through your bedroom window. -Sweet Dreams, Santa

No relaxin, this is spray!

Maybe, but Simpson finally got the chop, perhaps after the fourth or fifth major incident you might want to take up something safer...like parachuteless skydiving for example.

quote: Originally posted by Dr.E: Come to think of it, I have a batch of booty beaners that are worthless but I can't make myself throw away. I wouldnt trust them to rap off, who knows their history? But a guy can only use so many keychains. Two words: Cleaner biner. Use those pups to yard out pins and heads, or as a keeper biner when pounding a pin. Just make sure you know which are which...easy for me because I ONLY use booty biners for cleaners.

Nut tool as a sort of horizontal cam hook/piton...worked, but bent the hell out of the nut tool. Brass micronuts as copperheads,antenna off the radio for a cheater stick, and all the normal stuff like wired nuts as rivet hangers, knotted webbing as chocks, Old E cans for a pipe.

Yellow Metolius TCU

I've got shit-loads of gear, but I don't know that any of it really sucks. Some is fairly specialized as far as ideal application and I don't use it much, but when you need it, you need it. Examples: Tube chocks: I only have a #4 big bro, cams cover the rest of the sizes and you can slide a cam in front of you. I've placed the piece less than 5 times, but otherwise it would have been some scary runout offwidthing. Worth the money? Hell yes, I bought it after my first trip up Kor Ingalls where my #5 camalot didn't even come close to spanning the crack...after laybacking some unprotected old school 5.9 offwidth I said to myself "hey man, that was scary I need a damn big bro". I've used it on that route a couple of times and down in the valley a couple of times, and if I ever do the Salathe' or Excalibur, you better believe it'll be on the rack. Platypus: I used these daily for my entire AT hike, and while working hoods in the woods. Valves eventually leak, but you know that's gonna happen, a spare's only about $4. Keep the valves grit free and replace them before they get too old, just basic maintenance really. I've only had one "disaster" event and that was because I had grit in the threads and cross threaded the top. I've still got the two I bought four years ago and the only one I've ever gotten rid of was because it was filthy. Hexes: I almost never use hexes anymore, but in icy situations, or as a fixing piece they're better than cams. If I know I need a certain piece i.e. route description says take a #4 camalot or #11 hex, I'll take the hex. Mine are gradually disappearing and I won't likely replace them, but for certain situations they're the ticket. Tricams: The smaller three sizes are awesome, for the horizontal crack laden sanstone of the southeast there's nothing better, unless you like putting right angle bends in your tcu cables. They're also the ticket in funky soft desert cracks, think Zion, where a regular nut will sometimes track out...the point will often alleviate that. The bigger sizes are probably the least used pieces of pro I own (placed even less than the big bro) but I like 'em for alpine rock routes...again they're usually better than a nut or cam in icy siutations. Thermarests: I used a ultralite 3/4 every day on the AT, and a regular one while doing the hoods in the woods gig. I've slept at least 600 nights on them and had one hole...fixed in about 10 minutes. I wouldn't take one as my only pad in very cold situations, but they have their place, ESPECIALLY if you are a side-sleeper. My shoulders get wrecked sleeping on ensolite pads. OR Seattle sombrero: Haha! You really think I'd buy one of those damn wingnut lookin hats? One of the worst things I own are my OR regular gaitors. I never use them, I've got a short pair that work fine for keeping junk out of your boots or shoes, and the regular ones are too small to work very well with my plastics. They only see use from me when hiking in shorts through bad underbrush, and they're way too hot when that's happening. The other is my Dana daypack, it's big for a daypack, like 2200ci, but it doesn't climb well, doesn't carry heavy stuff well, is hard to get into, etc...it is pretty durable though. I've actually managed to off-load most of the gear I hated by selling it to some poor sucker.

quote: Originally posted by Wallstein: ________________________________________________ You don't know what your rack is missing until you use your partners Hybrid Aliens. Hybrids will make those flaring jingus cam placements into one piece anchors.... Not really off the mark though, I used a couple from someone else's rack and after placing them a time or two I was drooling...picked up a couple that a local shop couldn't sell and were blowing out and then filled out my set a little while ago courtesy of Barrabes. For clean aid and pin scars they are a godsend, makes tied off stacked pins look plain silly.

Re: Nalgene Lexan will not deform in boiling water, the hdpe will, to the point that I was using one for a hot water bottle in the bag, and left zipper indentations in the bottle, probably wouldn't have taken much to punch right through it.

quote: Originally posted by wdietsch: I'll be sure to wear it just for you at the next Portland Pub Club gathering. A couple of TG's barley wines and I'll put it up in "wing-nut" mode for a table dance SWEET! Maybe a tablemoondance. "Boogie wingnut! Get down!"

quote: Originally posted by erik: when in doubt run it out!!! Or in this case, "whip it out"

Rockin Matt, thanks! I'll probably try to free everything up to about easy 11. I'll do an archive search for the TR. I've got dboule sets of offset brassies and a couple sets of regular micros. Between me and my partner we've probably got six sets of everything in finger sizes, I've got cam hooks, etc. Should be a cruise gear wise, good to hear the approach isn't so bad.

That's funny stuff, you'd think the guy would learn after the second or third time..but how do you get rescued soloing? There a ledge on the route or something? Word is that while living in CO he went to the Diamond, on-sight soloed some 5.10 line, downclimed another 5.10 line, and soloed yet another (harder)line before calling it a day and fetching the Sheaf Stout stashed at the base. That's pretty impressive considering the altitude, and even the sheer amount of ground covered. Too bad really, hopefully Dean doesn't meet the same fate. It's an addiction, and that's the biggest reason I don't solo often...that and my small nads.

quote: Originally posted by Dru: el hombre de las cavernas del capitán sopla tuercas de los perros. oigo que el erik tiene gusto de fumar la hierba con las ovejas que el dru es strickland divino se pega en pernos del truncamiento de Portland el papa es un crossdresser. the man of the caverns of the captain blows nuts of the dogs I hear that erik has taste to smoke the grass with the ewes that dru is strickland divine sticks in per of the truncamiento of Portland the Pope to us is to crossdresser

That rationing shit don't work, I rationed and my ounce has been gone for four days now with no replacmenet in sight...what happened to "Happy holidays"? What was that Counting Crows song...Mr. Jones? Yeah, that's me

Ok, so ehhmic weighed in. C'mon ladies help poor Fleadog out here. Anne? Carolyn? Holly? lurking female types out there...surely you've gotta think it's sweet...he cares, he REALLY cares! Trying to put some effort into making a good date, now that's sweet...awwwwww so hook him up with the lowdown, don't leave him out there with just ideas from a punter like me.